Vista Bank looks to invest in Togo, Vista’s boss tells President Gnassingbe in Washington
Tuesday, 20 December 2022 14:14 
(Togo First) - President Faure Gnassingbe of Togo met with Simon Tiemtoré last week. The latter is the CEO of Lilium Capital, an investment group that owns the Vista banking group. Last week, the two men met in Washington on the sidelines of the second Africa-US Leadership Summit.
Tiemtoré, an American-Burkinabe financier, expressed ambitions to enter the Togolese market during the meeting. “Togo is well-known as a financial hub. We are especially attracted to it, due to its financial achievements. Hence, we must be present there as investors,” the CEO declared after the meeting. “We have shown President Faure Gnassingbe the growth strategy of our banking group, Vista, and our investment group, Lilium Capital, towards the effective consolidation of the ties between the US and Africa,” he added.
The declaration comes as Vista Group, according to some sources contacted by Togo First, could take over Oragroup, a pan-African banking group based in Lome and present in more than 12 countries. At present, Vista Bank is in Guinea, Sierra Leone, the Gambia, and Burkina Faso. The project, our sources indicated, is at an advanced stage.
Meanwhile, Emerging Capital Partners (ECP), a key shareholder in Oragroup remains prudent. Indeed, in November 2020, ECP’s move to sell part of its shares in the pan-African banking group to the Social Welfare Institute – General State Pension Fund (IPS-CGRAE) of Ivory Coast was blocked by WAEMU’s banking regulator. Since then, ECP had been looking to exit Oragroup’s shareholding, alongside its European institutional partners (Proparco, the German Investment Corporation–DEG, and the Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries–BIO). It is worth noting that ECP’s blocked attempt to exit Oragroup took place after the group’s introduction on the Regional Stock Exchange (BRVM) in April 2019, representing 20% of its capital.
Fiacre E. Kakpo
